A Walk Down Memory Lane: The Houses of the Holy

[PlanetPage]

Cleveland Public Auditorium - Public Hall Led Zeppelin August 26, 1970

1970 ....

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[PlanetPage]

1977
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Edited September 21, 2014 by PlanetPage

[PlanetPage]

">http://

Source Link: Cleveland Memory Project...

http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm/search/searchterm/Promoter/order/nosort

[SteveAJones]

^^^

Great shots of Cleveland Public Auditorium. I attempted to photograph that venue when I was in town for Page/Plant (July 3, 1998). It's a difficult exterior to photograph because it's somewhat tall viewed from street level and very long with few good vantage points nearby.

[sam_webmaster]

Trentham Hall on Victorian Society's top ten list of threatened buildings

By The Sentinel | Posted: October 08, 2014

PRESERVATION experts say one of Staffordshire most prestigious properties is under 'severe threat'.

Trentham Hall has been voted onto the Victorian Society's list of Top 10 Most Endangered Victorian and Edwardian Buildings in England and Wales for 2014.

Last year's top 10 included Fenton Town Hall, which still remains under threat, and the entry of Trentham Hall onto the list raises further concerns over its future.

The building, which dates back to the 1830s, was formerly the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland.

It passed out of the family's possession in the early 20th century, and later served as a concert venue for bands such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Who in the 1960s and 70s, before falling into disrepair.

It was bought, along with the rest of the Trentham Estate, by developers St Modwen in 1998, but has remained in a poor condition since then.

James Hughes, conservation adviser with the Victorian Society, said the hall's place on the list highlighted concerns.

He said: "We always get a large number of nominations for the list, and we always make sure that any building that makes the list has a lot of quality, is of national interest and is under a significant threat.

"Trentham Hall has been on the English Heritage list for a while now, and various projects to try and turn it into a hotel or other businesses over recent years have failed, so we're very concerned about its future."

Mike Herbert, regional director at St Modwen, said the company had been examining proposals to redevelop Trentham Hall for more than 10 years, but efforts to renovate it had been stymied by the recent economic downturn.

He said: "Virtually all the hall was demolished in 1911/12 and previous owners had left the remaining buildings in very poor condition, which we have pro tected from further deterioration until the time was right to progress. We recognise the importance that Trentham Hall has locally and we are committed to preserving this building for the future.

"However, the restoration must be commercially viable in its own right and the significant economic downturn over the last six or seven years has had a considerable impact on the plans to restore it".

Historian Fred Hughes said he was very hopeful St Modwen would be able to save Trentham Hall and preserve it for future generations.

"There is an urgent need to do something about it, and I'm fairly certain that St Modwen are looking at it very closely and there will be some good news imminently," he said.

"For many years since the Sutherlands quit the premises, the hall and the many outbuildings have fallen into disrepair – these kinds of things do happen at old buildings, but I think it's very important that we save the hall, because it's very important for local heritage.

"The Victorian Society has highlighted how serious it is, and hopefully we will see some improvements soon."

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Trentham-Hall-Victorian-Society-s-list-threatened/story-23060986-detail/story.html

[SteveAJones]

Thank you for the update, sam_webmaster.

[Sue Nami]

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zuXan2yGbj4w.kH0HW9tCfkOA

[sam_webmaster]

Led Zeppelin In Kitchener 45 Years Ago – TODAY
(CJDV FM) Dave FM

Darryl Law | November 04, 2014

http://www.davefm.com/2014/11/04/led-zeppelini/

[ledded1]

Trentham Hall on Victorian Society's top ten list of threatened buildings

By The Sentinel | Posted: October 08, 2014

PRESERVATION experts say one of Staffordshire most prestigious properties is under 'severe threat'.

Trentham Hall has been voted onto the Victorian Society's list of Top 10 Most Endangered Victorian and Edwardian Buildings in England and Wales for 2014.

Last year's top 10 included Fenton Town Hall, which still remains under threat, and the entry of Trentham Hall onto the list raises further concerns over its future.

The building, which dates back to the 1830s, was formerly the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland.

It passed out of the family's possession in the early 20th century, and later served as a concert venue for bands such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Who in the 1960s and 70s, before falling into disrepair.

It was bought, along with the rest of the Trentham Estate, by developers St Modwen in 1998, but has remained in a poor condition since then.

James Hughes, conservation adviser with the Victorian Society, said the hall's place on the list highlighted concerns.

He said: "We always get a large number of nominations for the list, and we always make sure that any building that makes the list has a lot of quality, is of national interest and is under a significant threat.

"Trentham Hall has been on the English Heritage list for a while now, and various projects to try and turn it into a hotel or other businesses over recent years have failed, so we're very concerned about its future."

Mike Herbert, regional director at St Modwen, said the company had been examining proposals to redevelop Trentham Hall for more than 10 years, but efforts to renovate it had been stymied by the recent economic downturn.

He said: "Virtually all the hall was demolished in 1911/12 and previous owners had left the remaining buildings in very poor condition, which we have pro tected from further deterioration until the time was right to progress. We recognise the importance that Trentham Hall has locally and we are committed to preserving this building for the future.

"However, the restoration must be commercially viable in its own right and the significant economic downturn over the last six or seven years has had a considerable impact on the plans to restore it".

Historian Fred Hughes said he was very hopeful St Modwen would be able to save Trentham Hall and preserve it for future generations.

"There is an urgent need to do something about it, and I'm fairly certain that St Modwen are looking at it very closely and there will be some good news imminently," he said.

"For many years since the Sutherlands quit the premises, the hall and the many outbuildings have fallen into disrepair – these kinds of things do happen at old buildings, but I think it's very important that we save the hall, because it's very important for local heritage.

"The Victorian Society has highlighted how serious it is, and hopefully we will see some improvements soon."

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Trentham-Hall-Victorian-Society-s-list-threatened/story-23060986-detail/story.html

Sam, the building in the picture was used over the past few decades as a magistrates court in Stoke on Trent. It has ceased being used as one now. The main part of the Trentham estate is about 4 miles away, Zeppelin played at the concert hall there in 1971 and 1973. I have some photos of the hall which I will root out later and add to this.

[PlanetPage]

Led Zeppelin In Kitchener 45 Years Ago – TODAY

(CJDV FM) Dave FM

Darryl Law | November 04, 2014

http://www.davefm.com/2014/11/04/led-zeppelini/

....Thank you!! Most Beautiful Memories of Jimmy in this City!!

[ledded1]

Trentham Gardens Stoke on Trent UK, I saw my first Zeppelin show here in 1973. The ballroom is in the top right of the first photo, it was demolished a few years ago replaced by a garden centre. The estate remains part of the garden centre.

[ledded1]

Trentham Gardens Stoke on Trent UK, I saw my first Zeppelin show here in 1973. The ballroom is in the top right of the first photo, it was demolished a few years ago replaced by a garden centre. The estate remains part of the garden centre.

[sam_webmaster]

The gig venue guide: Usher Hall, Edinburgh

It used to be the home of classical music in Scotland’s capital, but this concert hall has become a magnificent place to watch pop and rock, too

A gift to music … the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/Guardian

Capacity: 2,900 standing or 2,200 seated.

Who plays there: As the main venue for the Edinburgh international festival since 1947, the Usher Hall has been historically more associated with classical music and opera han it is with rock and pop. That has changed considerably in recent years, since a £25m refurbishment and expansion was completed in 2010. With both seating and standing capacity, not to mention its grand design, it’s now ​used by artists appealing to a slightly more mature audience, from Adele and Paolo Nutini to Bombay Bicycle Club and the xx.​ Usher Hall hosted a few rock legends way back in the mists of time: the Rolling Stones in 1964, Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac in 1970, Pink Floyd in 1974 and Paul McCartney and Wings in 1975. Its forthcoming attractions include Passenger, John Grant and Ben Howard.

Cloakroom: Yes.

Admission: From £20 up to around £40.

Bar: There are several bars dotted around the wings on the ground and upper floors, including the cafe-bar ​in the new glass annexe added to the building as part of the 2010 refurbishment. The beer is pretty bog-standard, and pricey, but service is generally fairly quick.

Food: No.

Toilets: Lots of them and well maintained.

Wheelchair access: There’s level access to the ground floor of the new wing, ​from the Grindlay Street side of the building​, and lift access to all levels of the hall. There are 12 wheelchair accessible spaces​; you need to advise the box office when booking if you need one. Assistance dogs are welcome.

Sound: Excellent – this is a custom-designed concert hall, after all, albeit one more used to dealing with orchestral music than amplified guitars and drum kits. It’s generally high-end artists only who tour here, such is the venue’s size. Some suit the space better than others, but in general you shouldn’t have any complaints sound​wise.

Usher Hall has hosted everyone from Pink Floyd to Adele. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

Where to stand: ​Usher Hall is a tall, curved venue, with ​grand ​circle and ​upper ​circle seating rising two steep levels above the stage and the stalls. Again, being a custom-designed concert hall, sightlines are generally good wherever you choose to sit or stand (the stalls seating is removed for many rock and pop shows), though be aware that there are a few seats with a limited view or restricted access, particularly in the ​upper ​circle. If you book direct from the venue over the phone they’ll tell you which seats, but ​if you buy from a ticket agent you might not find out until ​the night of the performance. Don’t underestimate how high up and ​vertiginous that top tier is – you ​feel like you’re in the heavens. It’s not recommended for people who are even moderately scared of heights​.

Overall: A beautiful, ornate space in which to watch a concert, all elaborate plaster panelling​, cornicing and brass fittings. ​Usher Hall celebrated its centenary in March 2014,​ after being bankrolled by a local whisky baron as a gift to Edinburgh. It​s resurgence as a rock and pop venue over the last few years has been a gift in itself, and timely​, especially given that Edinburgh was left with no ​dedicated large-scale venue of ​this kind in the city centre after the closure of the nearby Picture House in 2013. Owned and operated by the City of Edinburgh​, it’s been an ​unusual success story for a ​council often criticised for its lack of support for live music. It is small venues that the Scottish capital increasingly lacks more than anything – see Young Fathers’ comments to the Guardian after winning the Mercury prize for a taste of what some local artists make of Edinburgh ​council’s support for the grassroots music scene. But any place that routinely brings bands to Edinburgh as good as Efterklang, the National, John Grant and the War on Drugs​, and does them justice with its setting, has to be a good thing for the city and for its music fans.

Address: Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH1 2EA

Telephone: 0131-228 1155

Website: usherhall.co.uk

[bcarter690]

Nice!

Edited November 18, 2014 by bcarter690

[sam_webmaster]

Local history: Anti-drug crusaders nearly unplugged rock concerts at Coliseum in 1975

By Mark J. Price | Beacon Journal staff writer

Coliseum officials found themselves between a rock and a hard place 40 years ago when local authorities tried to ban popular concerts at the newly opened arena in Richfield Township.

Summit County deputies and Richfield zoning commissioners worked to stamp out illegal drug use in January 1975 by crusading against rock shows at the $25 million complex off state Route 303.

When Frank Sinatra performed Oct. 26, 1974, on opening night at the sold-out Coliseum, law enforcement officials weren’t too concerned about the well-dressed crowd using mind-altering substances. Over the next few months, however, as the arena welcomed concerts by Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Yes and Deep Purple, officers noticed a definite change in the atmosphere.

Plainclothes deputies were dispatched to Coliseum shows as trained observers, and reported seeing young fans using marijuana, amphetamines and barbiturates.

“It’s going to be controlled one way or another,” announced Maj. Alan Morrison, chief detective of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. “There’ll be no carte blanche to traffic in narcotics up there. If not controlled, we will have to resort to other means.”

Summit County Detective Capt. Anthony Deluca suggested that one way to get rid of the drug problem would be to get rid of concerts.

“They get one of those hard acid groups in there, 20,000 people get high, and they won’t have to worry about the Coliseum,” he warned the Beacon Journal. “They’ll tear down the building brick by brick.”

John Lemmo, vice president in charge of operations at the Coliseum, downplayed the public’s use of drugs in the arena, which operated with a private security force.

“I think we’ve kept a clean house, but when 20,000 people get together, there are going to be some problems,” he admitted.

To guard against future offenders, the Coliseum posted no-smoking signs.

Richard Crofoot, a member of the Richfield Township Zoning Commission, was an advocate for the Coliseum after developer Nick Mileti proposed building the sports and entertainment complex in the rural community between Akron and Cleveland. When Crofoot attended the Elton John concert Nov. 4, 1974, however, he detected a sickly sweet odor of marijuana in the hazy auditorium.

“I will not sit on the sidelines and watch our town being turned into a den of iniquity with the kids taking drugs for kicks,” he said.

If only 5 percent of the spectators were hopped up, that was still too many people, he said. After pondering the drug crisis for a month, Crofoot proposed a zoning code change to outlaw rock concerts in commercial areas of the township.

“I’m not against the Coliseum at all,” he told the Beacon Journal. “I worked as hard as anyone to get it here. We just don’t want rock concerts here. We don’t want another Blossom Music Center.”

On Jan. 13, 1975, the Richfield Township Zoning Commission voted unanimously to ban rock concerts at the Coliseum. Arena attorney George Moscarino protested that the commission failed to produce a good definition of a “rock concert.”

Vandals caused $30,000 in damage by shattering windows and glass doors at the Coliseum on Jan. 24, 1975, while trying to get inside a sold-out Led Zeppelin concert.

(Akron Beacon Journal file photo)

The recommendation was forwarded to Richfield trustees, who weren’t sold on the proposal. Township officials pledged to attend the Led Zeppelin concert Friday, Jan. 24, to see what went on at a rock show. Meanwhile, Sheriff Robert D. Campbell threatened to charge Coliseum management with violating Ohio laws because of drug use at concerts. A federal hearing was held in Cleveland on the day of the Led Zeppelin concert. Coliseum officials filed a lawsuit to prevent the sheriff from enforcing a law that held corporate leaders criminally responsible for drug use in their buildings.Traffic backed up for miles that night as 21,000 people converged on the Coliseum. The concert cost $7.50, but tickets were sold out. As the British band took the stage, chaos reigned outside. Disgruntled fans who couldn’t gain entry threw rocks, pipes and concrete through glass doors and windows, causing $30,000 in damage.

Coliseum officials said they called the sheriff’s office a dozen times for help, but no deputies arrived. Campbell later explained that he had only three officers on duty near the show and didn’t want to put them in harm’s way.

“I am not sending those men in there to fight with 22,000 people,” Campbell said. “We warned them they’re going to have problems up there. Once it starts outside, it’s going to be inside. And we can’t go in there.”

The Coliseum sued Campbell for $1 million, accusing him of obstructing law enforcement. The lawsuit was settled out of court and all claims were dropped.

However, the sheriff was still deeply concerned about the Jethro Tull concert scheduled for February. He requested an injunction to ban the concert.

Summit County Prosecutor Stephen M. Gabalac could find no legal grounds to stop the show. “We immediately started hitting the books,” Gabalac said. “We’re satisfied that an injunction could not be granted.”

The Coliseum beefed up security for the Jethro Tull show, even adding guard dogs, but the Feb. 21 concert featuring flute-playing singer Ian Anderson was peaceful, as was an April 4 concert by shock rocker Alice Cooper.

On Monday, April 14, Richfield Township trustees voted unanimously against the ban on rock concerts. They followed the opinion of prosecutor Gabalac, who maintained that the shows were already considered “a legally protected, nonconforming use,” and that enforcement of a ban “would be unwarranted abuse of a property owner and a wasteful expenditure of public money.”

“While there may be greater incidence of drug use at rock concerts than at the Coliseum in connection with other Coliseum events, control by banning such form of entertainment instead of resorting to legal channels of law enforcement appears to be unwise and inappropriate,” the trustees wrote.

The Coliseum’s next concert was spared. The 1950s revival show May 10 featured Chuck Berry, the Drifters, Danny and the Juniors, Gary U.S. Bonds, the Crystals and the Belmonts. The guard dogs were called off.

Twenty years later, the Coliseum was an empty building. Rock stars abandoned Richfield Township when the new Gund Arena opened in 1994 in downtown Cleveland. The old Coliseum was demolished five years later. Cuyahoga Valley National Park took over the site and allowed nature to reclaim the property. A giant meadow has grown alongside Route 303 where concerts once echoed. Anti-drug crusaders can’t complain that the place is filled with grass.

http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/history/local-history-anti-drug-crusaders-nearly-unplugged-rock-concerts-at-coliseum-in-1975-1.555171

[luvlz2]

Local history: Anti-drug crusaders nearly unplugged rock concerts at Coliseum in 1975

By Mark J. Price | Beacon Journal staff writer

hist05cut-1.jpg

Coliseum officials found themselves between a rock and a hard place 40 years ago when local authorities tried to ban popular concerts at the newly opened arena in Richfield Township.

Summit County deputies and Richfield zoning commissioners worked to stamp out illegal drug use in January 1975 by crusading against rock shows at the $25 million complex off state Route 303.

When Frank Sinatra performed Oct. 26, 1974, on opening night at the sold-out Coliseum, law enforcement officials weren’t too concerned about the well-dressed crowd using mind-altering substances. Over the next few months, however, as the arena welcomed concerts by Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Yes and Deep Purple, officers noticed a definite change in the atmosphere.

Plainclothes deputies were dispatched to Coliseum shows as trained observers, and reported seeing young fans using marijuana, amphetamines and barbiturates.

“It’s going to be controlled one way or another,” announced Maj. Alan Morrison, chief detective of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. “There’ll be no carte blanche to traffic in narcotics up there. If not controlled, we will have to resort to other means.”

Summit County Detective Capt. Anthony Deluca suggested that one way to get rid of the drug problem would be to get rid of concerts.

“They get one of those hard acid groups in there, 20,000 people get high, and they won’t have to worry about the Coliseum,” he warned the Beacon Journal. “They’ll tear down the building brick by brick.”

John Lemmo, vice president in charge of operations at the Coliseum, downplayed the public’s use of drugs in the arena, which operated with a private security force.

“I think we’ve kept a clean house, but when 20,000 people get together, there are going to be some problems,” he admitted.

To guard against future offenders, the Coliseum posted no-smoking signs.

Richard Crofoot, a member of the Richfield Township Zoning Commission, was an advocate for the Coliseum after developer Nick Mileti proposed building the sports and entertainment complex in the rural community between Akron and Cleveland. When Crofoot attended the Elton John concert Nov. 4, 1974, however, he detected a sickly sweet odor of marijuana in the hazy auditorium.

“I will not sit on the sidelines and watch our town being turned into a den of iniquity with the kids taking drugs for kicks,” he said.

If only 5 percent of the spectators were hopped up, that was still too many people, he said. After pondering the drug crisis for a month, Crofoot proposed a zoning code change to outlaw rock concerts in commercial areas of the township.

“I’m not against the Coliseum at all,” he told the Beacon Journal. “I worked as hard as anyone to get it here. We just don’t want rock concerts here. We don’t want another Blossom Music Center.”

On Jan. 13, 1975, the Richfield Township Zoning Commission voted unanimously to ban rock concerts at the Coliseum. Arena attorney George Moscarino protested that the commission failed to produce a good definition of a “rock concert.”

hist05cut-3.jpg

Vandals caused $30,000 in damage by shattering windows and glass doors at the Coliseum on Jan. 24, 1975, while trying to get inside a sold-out Led Zeppelin concert.

(Akron Beacon Journal file photo)

The recommendation was forwarded to Richfield trustees, who weren’t sold on the proposal. Township officials pledged to attend the Led Zeppelin concert Friday, Jan. 24, to see what went on at a rock show. Meanwhile, Sheriff Robert D. Campbell threatened to charge Coliseum management with violating Ohio laws because of drug use at concerts. A federal hearing was held in Cleveland on the day of the Led Zeppelin concert. Coliseum officials filed a lawsuit to prevent the sheriff from enforcing a law that held corporate leaders criminally responsible for drug use in their buildings.Traffic backed up for miles that night as 21,000 people converged on the Coliseum. The concert cost $7.50, but tickets were sold out. As the British band took the stage, chaos reigned outside. Disgruntled fans who couldn’t gain entry threw rocks, pipes and concrete through glass doors and windows, causing $30,000 in damage.

Coliseum officials said they called the sheriff’s office a dozen times for help, but no deputies arrived. Campbell later explained that he had only three officers on duty near the show and didn’t want to put them in harm’s way.

“I am not sending those men in there to fight with 22,000 people,” Campbell said. “We warned them they’re going to have problems up there. Once it starts outside, it’s going to be inside. And we can’t go in there.”

The Coliseum sued Campbell for $1 million, accusing him of obstructing law enforcement. The lawsuit was settled out of court and all claims were dropped.

However, the sheriff was still deeply concerned about the Jethro Tull concert scheduled for February. He requested an injunction to ban the concert.

Summit County Prosecutor Stephen M. Gabalac could find no legal grounds to stop the show. “We immediately started hitting the books,” Gabalac said. “We’re satisfied that an injunction could not be granted.”

The Coliseum beefed up security for the Jethro Tull show, even adding guard dogs, but the Feb. 21 concert featuring flute-playing singer Ian Anderson was peaceful, as was an April 4 concert by shock rocker Alice Cooper.

On Monday, April 14, Richfield Township trustees voted unanimously against the ban on rock concerts. They followed the opinion of prosecutor Gabalac, who maintained that the shows were already considered “a legally protected, nonconforming use,” and that enforcement of a ban “would be unwarranted abuse of a property owner and a wasteful expenditure of public money.”

“While there may be greater incidence of drug use at rock concerts than at the Coliseum in connection with other Coliseum events, control by banning such form of entertainment instead of resorting to legal channels of law enforcement appears to be unwise and inappropriate,” the trustees wrote.

The Coliseum’s next concert was spared. The 1950s revival show May 10 featured Chuck Berry, the Drifters, Danny and the Juniors, Gary U.S. Bonds, the Crystals and the Belmonts. The guard dogs were called off.

Twenty years later, the Coliseum was an empty building. Rock stars abandoned Richfield Township when the new Gund Arena opened in 1994 in downtown Cleveland. The old Coliseum was demolished five years later. Cuyahoga Valley National Park took over the site and allowed nature to reclaim the property. A giant meadow has grown alongside Route 303 where concerts once echoed. Anti-drug crusaders can’t complain that the place is filled with grass.

http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/history/local-history-anti-drug-crusaders-nearly-unplugged-rock-concerts-at-coliseum-in-1975-1.555171

Lol!

[mickey g]

Well, I can't get my computer to recognize my scanner, so I took pix of pix with the iPhone.

Tampa Stadium. Didn't see Zep there, but I caught the Floyd there in 1987. These pix were shot with a shit camera, heading south on Dale Maybry Blvd. Taken in Sept/Oct of 1982. How do I know that ? Simple, it's when we brought our 3 month old daughter to visit my in-laws in Florida. While they were babysitting her, we got lost looking for Busch Gardens. My brother-in-law kept rolling cigar sized doobs during the ride, so that kinda shit happens !

Edited January 5, 2015 by mickey g

[SteveAJones]

hist05cut-3.jpg

Vandals caused $30,000 in damage by shattering windows and glass doors at the Coliseum on Jan. 24, 1975, while trying to get inside a sold-out Led Zeppelin concert.

(Akron Beacon Journal file photo)

Great shot of the aftermath. I always felt Richfield Coliseum was a hideous looking building. This damage almost gives it character.

[StringBender]

Good old Richfield. Saw several shows there including the Firm in '86 - the show where Jimmy was "sick" and still in Chicago (I think) so they postponed it a day. Since it was Mothers Day weekend they announced you can bring your Mom and she gets in free, I guess that was a consolation prize for the postponement. I think they had a special section for them or something like that.

[sam_webmaster]

Dallas County is close to sealing a deal to sell the old Cabana Motor Hotel, but is the buyer going to tear it down? by Robert Wilonsky

A few developers who vied for the property, which was bought by the county in 1985 and converted into the Bill Decker Detention Center two years later, say the commissioners court agreed to sell the 399,000-square-foot property sitting on 3.275 acres near the Design District to apartment developer Lincoln Property Company last week with the intention of razing it and replacing it with a residential high-rise. The county, which was asking $7 million for the property last month, won’t comment on its fate.

The sale of the property was discussed in executive session, behind closed doors, during commissioners court on October 7. Teresa Guerra Snelson, the assistant district attorney who sits in on exec sessions, says via email, “I am not at liberty to discuss matters discussed in executive session.”

Competing developers say Lincoln offered a bid of slightly more than $8 million for Doris Day’s old hotel, where Raquel Welch worked as a cocktail waitress and where Led Zeppelin stayed in the summer of 1970. They also say at least one other bid came in at the exact same offer, and are questioning why the county didn’t ask for presentations outlining their plans for the property.

(From Led Zeppelin's website)

Robert Plant at the Cabana in August 1970, when Led Zeppelin played the Tarrant County Convention Center

“We would be very pleased to participate in such an exercise,” says Hercules Development’s Charles Brower, “and we are confident that our strong concept and vision would stand up well against any plans to demolish the structure.” Brower says he wanted to restore the Cabana to its former glory and keep it as a hotel; another well-known local developer, who did not want to be identified, said he had similar plans — but his offer, just under $8 million, put him out of the running.

CBRE, which is handling the sale on behalf of the county, confirms the former Decker Jail is under contract. “We’re still negotiating,” says Austin-based spokesperson Emily Fraser, “but it has not closed.”

Last week, Lincoln’s executive vice president of finance, Clay Duvall, said his company had not yet acquired the Cabana. The county, he said, “is still running a process on the deal.” He stressed that it has “not traded hands yet.” He said there were “no definitive plans” for the 53-year-old hotel that was the brainchild of notorious developer Jay Sarno, who was behind Caesars Palace and Circus Circus in Las Vegas. When asked if Lincoln planned to raze it, Duvall said only that “we’ve looked at it a bunch of different ways.”

And that’s all he’d say on the subject.

Brower says he’s convinced Lincoln is going to raze it — which, he says, “is no surprise given Dallas’ history. It just confirms that tipping point has not yet happened where historical properties have a lot of value.”

Brower and his partners, including Houston-based Aristides Trifilio, have launched a Save the Cabana Hotel Facebook page. Says Trifilio via email, he and his partners are “still mystified by the county acting so precipitously and hastily with a significant architectural asset. The Cabana certainly could be magnificent once more!”

This isn’t the first time someone’s talked about repurposing the old hotel: In 2009, the year the county “depopulated” Decker, the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation wanted to buy it and turn it into affordable housing for income-restricted residents wanting to live near downtown Dallas. That, of course, didn’t happen, and the county has been leasing the “cabana” part of the hotel to a private operator that has converted it into a halfway house for sex offenders.

Preservation Dallas, which has been tracking the Cabana’s sale, is also concerned this could be “another demolition of a historic building” since it has no protection from the city of Dallas.

“It’s not on the city’s list of landmarks, and it not on the National Register,” says Preservation Dallas Executive Director David Preziosi. “But it would potentially qualify for both. It’s one of the additional buildings we’ve added to the list we hope the city will put more protections in place for. But that may be difficult, since it’s owned by the county.”

For now.

http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2014/10/dallas-county-is-ready-to-sell-the-old-cabana-motor-hotel-but-is-the-buyer-going-to-tear-it-down.html/

[SteveAJones]

^^^

Great post.

[dazedjeffy]

The photos are from August 22, 1970.

[sam_webmaster]

Cabana Hotel pic...

[raytuned]

Flushing Meadow Park Pavilion,Queens NY. Zep did a few shows in this 5000 seat outdoor venue in 1970/71 not as big as the Hollywood bowl ,but similar in structure,demolished circa 1975. These small shows bring intimatecy to any show. But when zep had no way of getting out after the show.that was the end of the park pavilion concert series after the fans went haywire!/this is supposedly the venue where the band ran out of encores and Bonzo started to play the "Strip Tease theme! All hell broke loose!!

[raytuned]

Oops the Singer Bowl was demolished, the NYS pavilion is now a landmark!!